Hawthorne Elementary raises $11K for school library

Columbia City's
Neighbor News

Hawthorne Elementary raises $11K for school library

More than two dozen parents, teachers, staff and supporters of Hawthorne Elementary School have raised more than $11,300 to revamp the school's library — well over the $10,000 goal for the monthlong social-media fundraiser.

Learn more about the campaign.

Hawthorne Elementary School parents, teachers, staff and friends let out a collective cheer on Oct. 11, when we hit our goal to raise $10,000 to revamp our children's library — one day before the official end of our campaign.

Since then, our generous network of supporters has kept giving … and giving … and giving. Since last Friday, the fundraising total for our Hawthorne Library Reimagination campaign has topped $11,300.

Nearly 30 library "champions" made it all happen, mobilizing friends and family, neighbors and coworkers over email and on Facebook. In all, more than 170 people contributed to the campaign, which will help us:

Replace outdated non-fiction books (no, Pluto's not a planet anymore, and Reagan wasn't our last president)
Add more copies of fiction favorites like Diary of a Wimpy Kid, which always have long wait lists.
Get technological presentation equipment, including a smartboard and document camera.

"The library is incredibly important to our students. Many of them do not have books at home and they look forward to library day with excitement and anticipation each week," said Katie Kribbs, a kindergarten teacher and Friends of Hawthorne PTA vice president.

"With young children, it is our biggest job to inspire a love of reading and these high-interest books do that, be they Dora the Explorer or a non-fiction book filled with hairy spiders," Kribbs added.

Special thanks to the staff at See Your Impact, who did a fabulous job helping us set up and run the campaign; and to Scott Oki, a former senior vice president at Microsoft, a Hawthorne alum, and See Your Impact co-founder, who contributed $1,500 in matching contributions to motivate our fundraisers.

To learn more about the campaign, go to http://hawthorne.seeyourimpact.org.